Master of suspense Eileen Dreyer delivers another heart-hammering novel of psychological terror in which a tough-talking trauma nurse investigates a rash of mysterious hospital deaths and discovers a shocking conspiracy of high-level corruption and murder.
The bodies keep piling up in Memorial Medical Center's morgue, and trauma nurse Timmie Parker wants to know why. Old age just doesn't seem enough to explain the suspiciously large number of deaths, especially since many victims are from Restcrest, the hospital's highly touted senior-care and research facility. Searching for answer, Timmie gets caught in a tangled mystery that involves not only her coworkers but also the welfare of her father, Restcrest's newest patient. Stymied by the fact that she's the only one in the hospital fighting to find out the truth, she turns to Daniel Murphy, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter with a bad case of burnout. Together they embark on an investigation that could send Murphy soaring to the top of his profession -- and cost Timmie not only her job, but also her life.
Filled with the gripping emergency room details that could only come from a true medical profession insider, Brain Dead is a white-knuckle thriller guaranteed to keep readers spellbound until the very last page.


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International Women's Day Panel on burnout, mental health and self-care
73 Cromwell Street Collingwood Australia (map)
Get your ticket here
In the wake of the big, exhausting year that was 2018, we're coming together to talk about mental health, self-care and burnout. What does it mean when you're continually asked to 'be strong', achieve big things, and drive change? How can we honour the needs and limitations of ourselves and each other? What's missing from the global self-care movement?
We're opening up space for intimate, honest conversations on these important topics so we can huddle together like penguins to refuel. Join us for these big questions and more in this special event on International Women's Day (Friday March 8th, 2019).
Enjoy some delicious drinks, chat with other likeminded souls and listen/learn from our stellar panel:
Shantel Wetherall
Producer & Presenter of Hey Aunty! A podcast that shares fireside chats with black women, fems and non-binary siblings who've been there. Since launching in 2018 the pod has reached thousands of listens, sold out an inaugural live show and been shortlisted as a 2019 Frankie Good Stuff Awards Finalist. A new broadcasting talent with disarming curiosity and a passion for untold stories. A Sister of British/Belizean heritage and West African ancestry. Living as a grateful guest on Kulin Land for almost 10 years. A law grad with an ongoing career in HR, borne of a lifelong passion for understanding people. Touched by the power of Solange in 2018, she's hasn't looked back since.
Honor Eastly
In 2015, Honor Eastly was having a very hard time - of the feelings variety. After fifteen years of therapy, a stay in a psychiatric ward, and 18-months of hospital programs she still didn't have the answer. And she was starting to wonder if anyone did. Professional feeler of feelings, Honor cracked the top ten of iTunes Australia with a podcast she made in her bedroom, and was hand-picked by the ABC to turn her life story into a groundbreaking memoir podcast. Creator of Starving Artist Podcast, Big Feels Club and No Feeling is Final - a memoir podcast about suicide with ABC.
Tarneen Onus-Williams
Tarneen Onus-Williams is a Yigar Gunditjmara, Bindal, Yorta Yorta and TSI cis-woman. An activist and intersectional feminist, Tarneen works in the human rights space with Aboriginal and TSI women. She is the Senior Program Officer of Straight Talk, an Aboriginal and TSI women's political engagement program and an Executive member of the Koorie Youth Council. Tarneen is also a community organiser with Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance.
Leah Jing McIntosh
Leah Jing McIntosh is a writer & photographer from Melbourne. She is also the Founding Editor of Liminal Magazine - an online space for the interrogation and exploration of the Asian-Australian identity. Through Liminal, she has worked with Multicultural Arts Victoria, The New York Times, Emerging Writers Festival, Digital Writers Festival, The National Gallery of Australia, The National Gallery of Victoria, and Signal Arts; her work has been archived by the National Library of Australia, exhibited at No Vacancy, and recognised by Creative Victoria with a grant of $15,000 for projects in 2018. She is also one of four Victorian nominees for the 2019 Young Australian of the Year.
Jo Mitchell
Jo is the co-founder of The Mind Room and a clinical psychologist who works with people to achieve valued life goals, find meaning and live well. She works with professionals experiencing mental illness, burnout, or significant stress. With over 25 years sport industry experience, Jo has a specialist interest in working with high performers, particularly managing work and life transitions, mental illness and wellbeing. Jo has expertise in wellbeing science – including positive psychology, ACT and mindfulness – and completed her PhD in this field. Jo is on the Board of Action for Happiness Australia.
This event is wheelchair accessible. Please let us know if you have any other specific accessibility needs - we'd love to make arrangements for you. Contact us at hello@herwords.com.au when purchasing your ticket.
As we're a volunteer-run organisation, we are charging a ticket for this event with all funds raised allowing us to give a platform to more women's stories. However, we also recognise that not all our community members are able to spare the ticket price. As such, 10% of the seats will be sponsored for those who need it. If you are interested in a sponsored seat, please contact us at hello@herwords.com.au with the subject line: Sponsored Seat
Women Making A Difference: How to lead a successful social impact campaign
REAL TALK: A dinner for teens by her words

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Further Thoughts on Coroner's Inquests into Deaths in Custody
July 17, 2017 July 17, 2017 ~ Rachel Weil
Last week we cross-posted Krista Kesselring's essay on early modern coroner's inquests into prisoner deaths, which originally appeared on the blog Legal History Miscellany. I have never looked systematically into the records of coroner's juries, as Professor Kesselring did, but I've found two intriguing cases in the course of my research that seem to confirm Kesselring's argument about the apparent reluctance of these juries to delve deeply into the causes of prisoner deaths. The very fact that my cases come from a later period and different kinds of sources may make them of interest to readers of Kesselring's original post.
In both of my stories, though, we not only have evidence that a coroner's jury was negligent, but that a fuss was made about it.
The first case I want to discuss is one that I've blogged about before, that of the keeper of the Halstead House of Corrections, George Dewing. In February, 1728, Margaret Poulton died while in Dewing's custody. A coroner's jury was called, but its verdict was challenged. As with some of the cases Kesselring discusses, the context for this challenge was political, though the players were of less grand stature. Dewing had incurred the enmity of a local justice of the peace, a Mr. Vievar.
As Dewing explained it,
The said Margaret Poulton was very sick and weak when she was committed to this said House of Correction, and was well-treated there by your Petitions, and died a Natural Death Vizt. of a consumption, and so it was found by the Coroner's Inquest, at which the said Mr. Vievar seem'd very much displeased; and in order to inflame the Populace against your Petitioner, and therefore prepare the way for his further Designs against him, he had no sooner performed the Burial Service for the said Margaret Poulton but he ordered her Coffin to be opened, and the Woman's naked and Emaciated Body be exposed for three hours together to a great Number of Spectators of both sexes, and of all Ages, to the end they might believe the said Woman had been starv'd to Death by your Petitioner[1]
The open challenge to the coroner's jury in turn caused one of Dewing's defenders to defend the jury as well, as having "as good a Character as any persons in the Neighborhood." And in turn, again, all twelve members of the jury seem to have lined up behind Dewing: their signatures appear on the back of his petition, alongside those of other "Neighboring Gentleman," presumably as supporters of his petition for mercy after her had been convicted of having murdered the infant of another inmate. The elite in this community seem to have divided into pro-Vievar/anti-Dewing and anti-Vievar/pro-Dewing factions, with the coroner's jury falling into the latter camp. Given the string of allegations about sadistic violence to prisoners that dogged Dewing in future years, we might well suspect that the coroner's jury neglected its job.
My second archival find is a petition presented by prisoners for debt in Newgate in December, 1724, complaining about the gaolers.
As soon as the unhappy Prisoner is dead, he or she is stript naked and carry'd up into the upper Hall exposed to the derision of lewd felons, soon after a number of men are sent up to view the Corps by the name of the Coroners Jury who doth not allow Prisoners to be there or to be of the Jury to inform them whether the deceased dyed by famine, was murdered or whether it was by God's visitation, but in course they report that he dyed of the Gaol Distemper, tho never so false, the Coroner never seeing or swearing the Jury super visum corporis [on the view of the body]. [2]
All of which confirms Kesselring's suspicion that coroners did not bother to get it right, or even look at the body.
There is one interesting differences between Kesselring's examples and the ones discussed here: in hers, the challenges to the verdicts of coroner's inquests are tied to the presence of burning political or religious issues and are aired in the press, whereas in mine the challenges come from more plebeian sources, the Halstead crowd in one instance and the prisoners themselves in another. Is this a significant change, wherein the "public" is more ready to get involved? The history of by whom and under what circumstances the verdicts of coroner's juries are challenged still needs to be written.
Also worth more investigation is the way in which certain attributed causes of death were taken to signify that the death was natural and no one's fault, whereas others imply criticism of the gaoler. As Kesselring suggests, corpses that show signs of cold and hunger, of "frigore & fame," point a finger of blame. Perhaps that is why George Dewing was so concerned that the crowd in Halstead would see Margaret Poulter's emaciated body. On the other hand, verdicts of death by "hectic fever," "consumption," "tabes," or "gaol distemper" fell into the category of "death from natural causes, " even though it is likely that starvation, cold, depression or abuse made people more vulnerable to disease. The fact that "gaol distemper" was, according to the prisoners, the default verdict for negligent coroners in 1724 is especially striking. For many 18th century reformers, gaol-bred diseases often provided a central rationale for their program of regulating prisons, separating prisoners from one another, imposing cleanliness and discipline. But the coroner's juries that the prisoners complain about in 1724 seem uninterested in reform. What these juries meant by "gaol distemper" and why they were so quick to attribute prisoner deaths to it is an open question. Perhaps it was a convenient label for them to use because saying a prisoner died of "gaol distemper" justified the jury or coroner in spending as little time as possible in the prison. The meanings carried by different causes of death, too, have a history which we will need to understand in order to unpack the significance of what coroners say about dead prisoners.
Mostly, though, the conclusion I draw from the new material I've introduced here is that not much changed in the 18th century. As Kesselring concludes, investigations by coroner's juries did more to "obscure the violence of early modern imprisonment" than to create accountability. I can't say it better than that.
Thanks to Krista Kesselring for getting this conversation started, and for several helpful comments via email.
[1] Humble Petition of George Dewing Keeper of the House of Corrections in Halstead in the County of Essex (with related documents). TNA SP 36/6/255 {1728]
[2] Petition of prisoners for debt in Newgate with order to Sheriffs to enquire therein. London Metropolitan Archives CLA/047/LJ/13/1724/008 [2 & 4 Dec. 1724]. Tim Hitchcock, in a comment on Kesselring's post, points out that it was or became the norm for such juries to be made up of equal numbers of householders and prisoners.
NewgatePetitionsprotest
< Previous Early Modern Coroners' Inquests into Deaths in Custody
Next > The persistent presence of the eighteenth century female debtor


The Christmas season abounds with holiday customs and traditions, but most of us probably never stop to wonder about their origins. We decorate our homes inside and out with lights, candles, and greenery. We stuff stockings and send Christmas cards to family and friends. But why do we do these things year after year? Of course, we're celebrating the birth of Jesus, but did you know that many of our modern-day Christmas traditions have their roots in ancient cultures and practices, some of which actually predate Christ? Let's take a closer look at a few holiday customs.
Ancient cultures believed bringing in green branches would ensure the return of vegetation at winter's end. They used mistletoe and holly in pagan religious rituals and to decorate their homes. Romans exchanged holly wreaths as part of their Saturnalia festivities.
For several centuries after the birth of Christ, the Romans continued to celebrate Saturnalia. Christians began celebrating the birth of Christ in December while the Romans were holding their pagan celebrations. By decorating their homes with holly as the Romans did, Christians avoided detection and persecution.
The early Christian church associated holly with various legends about its role in Christ's crucifixion. According to one legend, Christ's crown of thorns was formed from holly. The legend claimed that the holly berries were originally white, but were stained red by Christ's blood. So for ancient Christians, the sharply pointed holly leaves became symbols of the thorns in Christ's crown and the red berries drops of His blood.
Mistletoe also played a role in various cultures. The Druids believed the plant was sacred and had healing powers. Mistletoe was an important element in the Norse legend of Balder, the sun god. The Romans considered it a symbol of hope and peace, so in the Roman era enemies reconciled under the mistletoe.
During the Victorian period in England, holiday decorations included an ornate "kissing ring," which had sprigs of mistletoe fastened to it. The ring was suspended from the ceiling and girls were kissed beneath it.
For centuries wreaths have represented the unending cycle of life and have been symbols of victory and honor. Ancient Druids, Celts, and Romans used evergreen branches in their winter solstice celebrations.
As early as 1444, evergreen boughs were used as Christmas decorations in London. In 16th-century Germany, evergreen branches were intertwined in a circular shape to symbolize God's love, which has no beginning and no end.
Poinsettias are called the "flower of the Holy Night" because their red bracts are said to represent the flaming Star of Bethlehem. Native to Mexico, the plant was cultivated by the Aztecs.
Seventeenth-century Franciscan priests in Mexico used the plant as part of their Nativity celebration because it bloomed during the Advent season. Worshipers placed the flowers around a manger built at the church altar.
The plant is named after Dr. Joel Poinsett, an American ambassador to Mexico from 1825 to 1829, who was so taken with the plant that he sent cuttings home to South Carolina. The plants flourished in Poinsett's greenhouse.
Credited with developing poinsettias for sale is Albert Ecke, a Swiss farmer who lived near Los Angeles in the 1890s. The Ecke family became the leading producer of poinsettias in the United States.
According to tradition, the original Saint Nicholas left gifts of gold coins for three poor girls who needed the money for their wedding dowries. One bag of gold coins is said to have landed in a stocking hung by the chimney to dry. Thus was born the tradition of receiving small gifts in stockings hung from the mantel.
For almost two centuries, American writers have reflected on this cherished reminder of childhood. Among them was Washington Irving, who referred to "hanging up a stocking on the chimney on St. Nicholas eve" in the Knickerbocker History of New York. In 1883, a tongue-in-cheek editorial in The New York Times promoted use of the Smith Christmas Stocking, an elastic stocking "suited to the circumstances of every family."
The custom of sending Christmas cards probably began with the English "schoolpieces" or "Christmas pieces," simple pen-and-ink designs on sheets of writing paper. The first formal card was designed by an Englishman, J.C. Horsley, in 1843. It was lithographed on stiff, dark cardboard and depicted in color a party of grownups and children with glasses raised in a toast over the words "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you."
Americans relied on expensive imported Christmas cards until 1874, when Boston lithographer Louis Prang offered a selection of cards featuring reproductions of contemporary paintings with printed sentiments on the reverse side. Within 10 years, Prang's print shop was producing more than five million cards each year.
About the same time, Thomas Nast, a German immigrant, was an illustrator for Harper's Weekly. In 1862, fascinated with Clement Clarke Moore's poem The Visit of St. Nicholas ('Twas the Night Before Christmas), Nast visually depicted Moore's Christmas fantasy — including the first portrayal of Santa Claus as the fat, jolly, white-whiskered old man we recognize today. Nast is responsible for the first illustrations of Santa's North Pole workshop, of Santa in his sleigh, and of Santa opening his mail and making a record of children's naughty or nice behavior. Nast's illustrations dramatically influenced the nature of Christmas cards in his day and in ours.
From those early beginnings, the exchange of Christmas cards has grown to astonishing proportions. Americans typically exchange more than 2 billion cards each year.
This year, as you select the perfect tree and pull the holiday decorations out of storage, take time to reflect with your family on God's gift of His Son. Regardless of the origin of our holiday traditions, we can joyously celebrate the truth that Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, has redeemed us and has delivered us from lives filled with darkness and superstition. We have a real reason to celebrate!


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Stuart tank returned to site of American Car and Foundry factory
March 24, 2016 by tankandafvnews 1 Comment
WNEP 16 News (Pennsylvania) is reporting that a WW2 era Stuart light tank has found a new home in Berwick PA, site of the former American Car and Foundry factory.
The Stuart Light Tank, called a Stuie, was among 15,000 Stuie Tanks built from 1940 to 1944 at the former American Car and Foundry factory that once stood inside the industrial park.
The tanks were used in combat during World War II in Europe. Many at the celebration are veterans of the war.
"It's almost like uniting a family.When you lose somebody in battle and they're over there, and they finally come home, that's the closing," said Donald.
Veteran Joe Messina worked at the factory, testing the tanks.
"I test drove them before they went out," said Messina. "I test drove them when they came out the gate and then I took them."
The plan is to eventually have the Stuie Tank placed at the entrance to the industrial park. It will serve as a memorial to the Stuie Tanks, the factory, and the thousands of people who worked there.
There is already a historical marker set at the memorial site, which was put there last September on V-E Day to honor the 9,000 workers.
Filed Under: Historical Vehicle News Tagged With: American Car and Foundry, Berwick, Stuart tank
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josef trumpeldor says:
No mention about where the tank came from? My SWAG is that this is one of the 20-odd tanks that came out of Brazil about ten years ago.
Anybody know anything else?


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Category Archives: People
Fran Lebowitz in 2011. Photo by Christopher Macsurak, License
I've never met Fran Lebowitz. I enjoy her wit, her humor, and her distinctive point of view. I admire her ability to name whatever elephant is in the room, to say what many think but don't dare say. I spent a couple of hours in her company (on YouTube) today, so she's on my mind. In many ways I consider her a kindred soul. She loves words and knows her grammar. So do I, notwithstanding the ungrammatical title of this post. I think that "Fran Lebowitz and I" would be a turnoff to the many people who don't think proper grammar is necessarily a good thing. Yet I don't feel right lowering my standards. Actually, these days I don't feel right about many things.
Like the state of the nation, specifically the impending demise of American democracy. Income and wealth inequality, white supremacy, the shameful state of healthcare in the United States and the alarming diffusion of the Delta variant of the coronavirus are dangers and evils that keep me awake. I deplore the gullibility of the followers of radicalized politicians who lie shamelessly to stay in power. The legislatures and executives who deceive their constituents, encouraging them to indulge, defenseless, in activities that expose them to a deadly virus– these faithless leaders are criminals.
I digress. Back to Fran. She's decreed that "racism is a fantasy" because under the skin there is no difference among human beings. She's right. Waving the Confederate flag anywhere, let alone in the Capital (which was largely built by Black slaves) is worse than offensive. It is sickening. Fran believes, and I agree, that if the insurgents who stormed the Capitol on January 6 had been Black, they would have been shot. Justice in America is not blindfolded. Difference in gender, on the other hand, she says cannot be denied. Until men can get pregnant, women will have to resist their domineering. I don't think there is a woman alive of any color who has not had a "me too" experience.
I love gadgets. Living without my computer is unthinkable and my phone is practically attached to my body. Fran, on the other hand, doesn't believe that technology has been a boon for mankind. She flaunts her comfortable survival without a smartphone, a computer or a microwave oven. I agree with her that riding the subway and seeing practically every passenger intent on his phone is depressing. According to Fran, eighty percent of even the adults are not reading or talking; they are playing games. They don't read books or newspapers or talk with other people. In fact, most of the time people use the apps on their phones for anything but talking. Texting has become the preferred mode of communication. Human contact– practically eliminated in deference to Covid-19– is losing the battle as office workers prefer working from home and masking and social distancing conspire to keep strangers from interacting.
In addition to a passion for social justice, I share with Fran the experience of writing block or more like a blockade, as she calls it: "I would not call it a writer's block. A writer's block to me is a temporary thing. A month, you know, six weeks. This was more a writer's blockade. To me, this was very much like the Vietnam War. It was the same timetable, it was on the same schedule as the Vietnam War. I don't know how I got into it and I couldn't get out of it." She has said that writing is "agonizing," that writing is hardest work there is. "The only job that is worse is coal mining." And very few people mine coal any more.
Filed under American Society, Coronavirus, People, Personal
Tagged as Fran Lebowitz
RBG, Nina Totenberg and the friendship that bound them
NPR's Nina Totenberg and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg
This morning I read Nina Totenberg's tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsberg and their 50-year friendship. Lovingly written, the NPR obituary is a series of vignettes that
have little to do with her brilliance, hard work or devotion to the law, or even her pioneering role as the architect of the legal fight for women's rights in this country.
"Rather," Totenberg continues,
they are examples of her extraordinary character, decency and commitment to friends, colleagues, law clerks — just about everyone whose lives she touched. I was lucky enough to be one of those people.
The first story Totenberg relates about her friendship with RBG reveals the depth of the future Justice's commitment to her friend:
She was still on the D.C. Circuit in 1988 when the Cosmos Club, after years of effort from many of its male members, finally voted to admit women. Against my better judgment, I agreed to be proposed as one of the first female members. But, as it turned out, I was blackballed. While I was happy not to have to pay the significant fees associated with membership, the truth is I was really hurt, and I must have told Ruth about it.
Some time later, RBG was invited to visit the club, and at the end of a tour of its lovely interior, her escort invited her to become a member. As the story was related to me, Ruth paused, and in that quiet, low voice of hers, said to her escort, "You know, I think that a club that is too good for Nina Totenberg is too good for me, too."
The story of two women, reporter and Supreme Court Justice, and their friendship despite their potentially adversarial professions touched me deeply. If you have read this far, I am sure you will enjoy "A 5-Decade-Long Friendship That Began With A Phone Call."
Filed under People, Women
Tagged as friendship, Nina Totenberg, RBG, Ruth Bader Ginsburg
And the stars fell out of heaven and the moon could not be found
The sun was in a million pieces scattered all around
Why did you ever leave me, you knew how it would hurt
And now there's darkness on the face of the earth
—Willie Nelson, Darkness on the Face of the Earth
Palo Alto, California, 9-9-2020. Photo by Evan Baldonado
The apocalyptic events of 2020, all coming together, are overwhelming. People are dying. 200,000 dead! and millions infected. Mind-boggling. As are the fires on the West Coast. Who ever heard of orange skies? The pictures are beautiful, awesome, and horrifying. Disasters of epic proportions. Fire tornadoes, flooding, hurricanes, ashy skies– Loss and death and destruction everywhere.
Loyalton, California. 8-16-2020. Photo by Katelynn & Jordan Hewlett, AP
Ruth Bader Ginsburg at her Senate confirmation hearing, 1996
But all that wasn't enough. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, feminist icon, extraordinary legal brain, unflagging energy, is GONE. After a long, difficult bout with cancer, we should be happy that she is finally relieved of her pain. She was 87, after all; she lived a full life, by any standard.
But I can't stop thinking of her, what she achieved, what she meant to me, personally. I can't stop thinking about her, sobbing in spite of myself. In other times, no one would question that her legacy, the liberation of women and of men too, would live on.
But today the world is upside-down. Truth is becoming an extinct commodity, and half the country is convinced that everyone else is deceptive, cruel, and scheming to take over the government or what's left of it. The other half believes the others are ripping the country apart, snuffing out democracy, shredding the Constitution. The freedom and the ideals that we aspired to, but never quite reached, are dissolving. A nightmare.
Is the world truly coming to an end?
Filed under Coronavirus, Environment, People, Personal, Women
Tagged as Pandemic, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, West Coast fires
Plus ça change . . .
Having barely finished writing a review of First: Sandra Day O'Connor An Intimate Portrait of the First Woman Supreme Court Justice by Evan Thomas, the advancement of women's rights was on my mind.
O'Connor, raised on a remote cattle ranch in the Arizona desert, finished her undergraduate studies and earned her law degree at Stanford University in six years, graduated third in her class and was only 22 years old! A newly-minted lawyer with that record could expect to find a good job at a prestigious law firm, right? Wrong. It was 1952, and no established law firm would hire a woman lawyer.
Determined to work in the profession she had prepared for, O'Connor opened her own firm with another woman, setting up shop in a mall. Later, she found work in the government, and later still, using her shrewd political skills and aided by powerful contacts, she was appointed to fill a vacant seat in the state senate. Within three years, she became the first woman ever to be majority leader in a state senate. It didn't take long before she ascended to the U.S. Supreme Court as the first woman justice.
At the Court, O'Connor voted mostly with the conservatives during her first decade, satisfied with incrementally advancing the cause of women. With the passage of time, however, she began tacking to the left. Though a conservative, she evolved to occupy the space between conservatives and liberals, becoming the swing vote that determined the outcome in 330 cases, often championing the rights of women, children, gays and minorities.
O'Connor's frustration at still not being able to land the job she wanted as a lawyer even 12 years after her graduation in 1964 came to mind when I saw this tweet by @sarahoconnor, a reporter for the Financial Times:
In 2019. Still blind. Or worse.
Tagged as Sandra Day O'Connor, woman lawyer
One woman's must-see video
MJ Hegar is a self-described ass-kicking, motorcycle-riding, Texas Democrat. She was a combat rescue pilot in Afghanistan until she was shot down and wounded on a mission. Several adventures later, Hegar is now trying to unseat the Texas Tea Party Congressman John Carter who refused to see her because she wasn't one of his donors.
She calls her campaign video "Doors." Doors she's opened, shut, walked through, and doors slammed in her face. I'm posting her video, not to boost her candidacy, but because it's impressively made about an even more impressive woman.
Filed under People, Politics, Women
Tagged as "Doors", MJ Hegar, women in military
The Notorious RBG
I had heard "RBG," the movie that celebrates the life and accomplishments of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was good. But I wasn't prepared for how moving it would be for someone who lived through the times that RBG did so much to change.
If you remember when women's minds were not valued and their voices barely heard, you'll enjoy watching the amazing and Notorious "RBG." If you're too young to remember, then see it and learn. You'll appreciate how different your life is from your mother's (or grandmother's) because of RBG's legal triumphs.
"RBG" is a love story. The marriage of Ruth and Marty is lovingly told, as is her fierce belief in the Constitution and her crusade for equal rights.
The movie is fun to watch. The montage of old clips and photos interlaced with Ruth speaking her mind today is very well done. It's also au courant— Ruth's kids say she never watches TV, but we see her watching Kate McKinnon's recent impersonation of her on SNL. She rocks with laughter, her usually sober demeanor dissolving.
Tagged as Notorious RBG, RBG, Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Five Shorts long in imagination
Treated to a screening of five short films at the Tribeca Film Festival and knowing nothing in advance about any of them, I marveled yet again at human diversity and creativity.
The first film was "Earthrise," by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee. The three astronauts of Apollo 8 tell the story of their otherworldly adventure from launch to splashdown. It was an experience that immeasurably enlarged and changed their perspectives. The first humans to orbit the moon, they were awestruck when they saw the Earth rising above the moon's horizon. They recall the emotion they felt when they saw their distant home, a blue planet ascending in brilliant color from the moon's unremitting gray into the blackness of space. Their mission was to photograph the moon's surface, but the first pictures ever taken of the Earth from space eclipsed the novelty of the far side of the moon. Their iconic photo of earthrise is one of the most famous photos ever taken.
"The Blue Line" examines what happens when someone paints a blue line down the main street of a small town in order to honor the police. The line exposes a previously well hidden division between conservative and liberal, white and black. Voices raised in anger on either side of the divide eventually come to a town meeting to hear each other out. When Samantha Knowles heard about the controversy from her dad, she immediately dropped everything and returned to her childhood home to document the affair. One of the tiny percentage of African-Americans in an overwhelmingly white community, she was amazed and gladdened by the willingness of all the townspeople to speak with her.
The third film, "My Dead Dad's Porno Tapes," is a son's attempt to come to terms with destructive family relationships, and especially with his father. Charlie Tyrell pieces together an understanding of his distant, dead father with scraps of memorabilia. He draws on his own little bit of hard knowledge with very few existent photos, including the single one of him and his father together, the memories and impressions of his sister, random artifacts his father left behind and family stories he had heard to trace the origins of his father's unwillingness to be known.
Sindha Agha tells her story of battling menstrual pain in "Birth Control Your Own Adventure." She represents her period with raspberries floating in water, catsup among balloons and other unique metaphors. She made the film in two days to distract her when her pangs were particularly intense. Her experience, she discovered, is far from unique. Women called and wrote and shared their stories, stories that no men wanted to hear, stories that they kept undisclosed for most of their lives.
Lance Oppenheim is a junior at Harvard, fascinated by the man who calls himself "The Happiest Guy in the World." He profiles Mario Salcedo, a man who boarded his first cruise 20 years ago and never returned. Mario lives his fantasy, shucking off the responsibilities of living on land. He doesn't have to take out the garbage, for example. Someone else makes his bed and cooks and serves his food. Oppenheim gives Mario free rein to explain why he is the happiest guy in the world, but he seems to be unaware of some glaring contradictions in his narrative. Strange.
All the filmmakers are under 40, three in their 20s and one not twenty yet, and all have made other films. I was struck by the originality of their work and the compelling stories they tell. Agha's and Tyrell's shorts are available in the New York Times Op-Docs section, and the others will soon be. Check them out. You won't be sorry.
Filed under People, Race, Space exploration, Women
Tagged as Birth Control Your Own Adventure, Charlie Tyrell, Earthrise, Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Lance Oppenheim, My Dead Dad's Porno Tapes, Samantha Knowles, Sindha Agha, The Blue Line, The Happiest Guy in the World
Pink Pussyhats
Streaming out of the subway in waves of pink exuberance, New York City women had lost none of the energy from last year's Women's March. Signs abounded, screaming opposition to Donald Trump and the harm his decisions have done to American life and the welfare of the planet. America is a nation of immigrants, so DACA and immigration were major themes. Women's rights— #MeToo, abortion and pay parity— were the other main focus.
There were people in costume, like the man covered with dollar bills and other currencies, all splattered with blood. They were bands. One had a tuba, clarinets, saxophones, a trombone, a melodica, tambourines and, of course, drums. Another was all drums, played by women in blue, dancing and drumming. Fogo Azul (blue fire) wore blue pussy hats. They had everyone in earshot moving and dancing.
Many creative, artistic signs.
"A woman's place is in the House, the Senate, the White House."
"It doesn't say 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled Norwegians yearning to breathe free.'"
We all enjoyed ourselves, but we appreciated
"Resign. Don't make me march again."
The march was scheduled to begin at 71st St. and Columbus Avenue at 11 a.m. My group met at 66th and Columbus at 11:30. By that time,, Central Park West, the main route, was inaccessible from the side streets, so the March was directed up Columbus to join the mainstream on Central Park West. It took us three hours to reach Central Park West at 77th St. A policeman told me that people had to march to 91st St. to reach the end of the line.
The procession began to move a little faster as the shadows lengthened and people peeled off.
At 4 o'clock I was the only one of my party left. I reached Columbus Circle (59th St.) and the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weakening. I told myself it was okay not to continue. I had, after all, marched 22 blocks in three hours only to return to my starting point. I wish I'd had a seat in the helicopter overhead to see the barely moving double flow of enthusiastic people waving signs and making music in a huge demonstration of solidarity.
An sea of pink, pussy-hatted women of all ages–
to grandmas–
Not every pussyhat was worn by a woman.
Although the vast majority of marchers were women, supporting men took part too.
Of the several themes, the most consistent, the one that tied the others together, was anti-Trump anger.
His boastful claim that when he sees an attractive woman he "grabs her by the pussy" was of course the inspiration for the pussy hat.
There were little pussycats
Big cats roared in defiance.
Covered with bloodied currency, this figure embodied scandal and corruption:
Rounding up the usual suspects for Special Counsel Robert Mueller:
Votes, instead of pussies, were proposed for grabbing instead.
Getting out the vote to defeat Republicans and Trump in particular was a popular theme.
Woman power.
There were references to #MeToo.
Plunder of the Earth was a pressing concern.
And the music played and the marchers danced.
And of course, the Trump Shutdown.
Trump's unforgettable language.
And finally,
Filed under American Society, Environment, People, Politics, Random, Resistance
Tagged as featured, Women's March 2018
The New South and the Confederacy
Buried in the turmoil and never-ending work associated with a move from one home to another I've kept up with the headlines, but little of real substance. Over a week ago I took a break and came across the transcript of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu's speech on the removal of confederate monuments. The mayor represents the new South, the Southerners who acknowledge that they live in the 21st century and understand and accept that slavery and the Confederacy died more than 150 years ago. They belong to a progressive America that has been trying to overcome that old legacy since the 1960s, an America that continues to make progress in the civil rights of people of all colors, genders and ethnicities.
Landrieu was responding to his critics who hold that by removing the statues of Confederate leaders he is erasing history:
There is a difference between remembrance of history and reverence of it. For America and New Orleans, it has been a long, winding road, marked by great tragedy and great triumph. But we cannot be afraid of our truth.
The truth is that New Orleans is a great city, a "city of many nations … a bubbling cauldron of many cultures." It is also true that
New Orleans was America's largest slave market: a port where hundreds of thousands of souls were brought, sold and shipped up the Mississippi River to lives of forced labor of misery of rape, of torture.
America was the place where nearly 4,000 of our fellow citizens were lynched, 540 alone in Louisiana; where the courts enshrined 'separate but equal'; where Freedom riders coming to New Orleans were beaten to a bloody pulp.
So when people say to me that the monuments in question are history, well what I just described is real history as well, and it is the searing truth.
And it immediately begs the questions: why there are no slave ship monuments, no prominent markers on public land to remember the lynchings or the slave blocks; nothing to remember this long chapter of our lives; the pain, the sacrifice, the shame … all of it happening on the soil of New Orleans.
Was the Attorney General listening?
Filed under American Society, People, Race
February 1, 2017 · 6:35 PM
Recognition of African-American Women in 1960s long overdue
Now, as Black History Month begins, is an ideal time to celebrate the heroism of the largely unsung African-American women who put their lives on the line, fighting next to their men.
Few of the women activists in Martin Luther King's day—women whose zeal and courage matched his—earned lasting fame. In the 1960s, women's voices didn't carry very far, despite the fact that their activism was critical to the movement. The resounding chorus of men, few of whom realized or acknowledged the intelligence and dedication of the black and white women who worked and protested alongside them, all but drowned them out. Of those women, only Daisy Bates, who spearheaded the desegregation of the Little Rock Schools, spoke at the rally that concluded the famous 1963 March on Washington.
A half-century later, black and white women organized massively: On January 21, 2017, hundreds of thousands of women marched not only in Washington, but in cities and towns across the U.S. Their voices reverberated throughout the world.
Here are some of the African-American women of the 60s whose stories must be told again: Continue reading →
Filed under American Society, People, Race, Women
Tagged as Daisy Bates, Diane Nash, Dorothy Foreman Cotton, Dorothy Height, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Jo Ann Robinson, Marie Foster, Septima Clark, Willa Brown
How low can he go?
Donald Trump never ceases to amaze.
Charlie Brotman
Charlie Brotman has announced every inaugural parade since Eisenhower's second in 1957 to Obama's in 2013— 15 parades and 10 presidents. He's been called the presidents' eyes and ears, cuing them when to salute or stand or sit. He is 89 years old, and a few weeks ago he lost his wife after 65 years of marriage. He was already preparing for the next inaugural, writing his script. He has said that this singular job has kept him going, given him a way to deal with his grief. But a few days ago he received an email from the Trump transition team informing him that he will no longer continue to do the job he lovingly fulfilled for what would been 60 years. He was summarily fired with no reason given. A Trump donor will take Brotman's place.
Once again, the president-elect demonstrated that he is incapable of empathy, that he lacks the most basic humanity, that his only concern is Donald Trump and what will gild his ego.
Photo by dbking from Washington, DC – _MG_9498Uploaded by traveler100, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24272770
Filed under People, Politics, Trump
Tagged as Charlie Brotman, Donald Trump
I didn't realize how deeply I felt about a victory for Hillary till I found myself crying when I finally accepted that Hillary wasn't going to make it. Like so many others, I was stunned. Literally dumbfounded.
This is a huge amount to process. Every woman I meet is walking around dazed, zombie-like. It doesn't sink in. It will take time to accept the unthinkable. We are truly in uncharted waters.
There is no question in my mind that if Hillary, with all she's accomplished, were a man, she would easily have won. Women know this. Sexism was blatant when she competed with Obama eight years ago and now it's back with a vengeance. The double standard applied in the 2016 presidential campaign boggles the mind. In what universe would a man with Hillary's experience and accomplishments run neck and neck, let alone lose, to a challenger like Trump? Why was his record of fraud (Trump University), racial redlining in his housing projects, indiscriminate lies, sexual predation, etc. so easily swallowed while she was vilified for crimes she didn't commit?
What will a Trump victory mean for women? For access to safe abortion when necessary? For indigent women's access to contraception? What will it mean for the immigrants, especially Muslim and Latino?
It's over now. It's over for Hillary and for many of her contemporaries who fought so hard for civil and women's rights and were finally closing in on the unattainable prize. That cohort may not live to see a woman in the White House.
We will have to move on. Rather than expend energy on speculation, it behooves us to continue to fight the good fight. Each of us has to find her own way to continue and contribute to the struggle.
A version of this is at Women's Voices for Change:
Post-Election Opinion: 'We Can't Allow Ourselves to Be Daunted'
Filed under American Society, People, Personal, Politics, Women
Republican hypocrisy
A live mic betrayed Donald Trump in an unguarded moment by recording his lewd remarks and confirming that he is a sexual predator. That mic, not unlike the "defective" mic he blamed for losing the first debate, confirmed the ample evidence we have of his unsavory character. Governors, senators, former cabinet members, congressmen and other prominent Republicans are running from Trump like rats abandoning a sinking ship.
Really? Really! Where were they when he mocked the disability of a New York Times reporter? Where were they when Trump impugned John McCain's war record war record because he was captured in Vietnam? Where were they when he insulted the parents of an American soldier who gave his life to protect his comrades, disparaging their Muslim religion (and retaliating for Mr. Khan's scathing denunciation at the nationally televised Democratic convention)? Where were they when he called women fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals and worse? Where were they when he sent our allies reeling by saying he would not honor our 67-year commitment to NATO?
Now the Republicans attack their presidential nominee? He is sinking in the polls and they don't want to go down with him. If Trump had been leading in the polls, we wouldn't hear a peep from the Party.
What particularly galls me is the condemnation by Trump's former boosters. What Trump said to Billy Bush is no worse than what many men say to each other about women. I'm not a gambler, but I would bet the farm that most of Trump's critics have used the same language and that some of them are gropers too.
Why is that video the straw that broke the camels back? It is not unusual for men in power to sexually assault, verbally and physically, their female subordinates. (Remember Roger Ailes?) I have written about women who successfully sued their bosses for such conduct in a review of "Because of Sex" by Gillian Thomas. Trump's lewd comments and sexual assaults are nothing new. He insulted, as he did all his rivals for the nomination, Carly Fiorina as a woman. He was just unlucky that the incident was recorded.
I am disgusted by the tape, but before it surfaced I was appalled by his racism, ignorance, corruption and boldfaced lies throughout the campaign. The millions who voted for him excuse and condone his lies and failings as a human being, let alone as a candidate for the presidency. How different are they from him?
All the Republicans who perpetuate an inferior status for women by infantilizing them and assuming the right to control their bodies are guilty of a kind of sexual assault. Is legalizing sexual assault with a mandatory vaginal probe less violent than "grab[bing] them by the pussy"?
Please! Donald Trump is who he is. Republicans chose him to occupy the Oval Office. Now they are stuck with him.
Tagged as Billy Bush video, Donald Trump, Trump and women
PM Theresa May: Cool, tough and commanding in leopard-skin heels
The first female prime minister of Great Britain was called "The Iron Lady." What will we be calling Theresa May, who is following Margaret Thatcher as the second woman ever to be PM? May has been likened to Thatcher, but Germany's Angela Merkel may be a more apt comparison. Both are strong women, competent, stubborn, no–nonsense heads of state.
Not surprisingly, men have called May "A bloody difficult woman" and "Ice Maiden" with "no small talk whatsoever—none." Yet the former prime minister, David Cameron, grudgingly admitted, "She is instinctively secretive and very rigid, but you can be tough with her and she'll go away and think it all through again."
May was the only major candidate in the contest for Conservative leadership who did not support Brexit, the populist push for Britain to exit the European Union. But her advocacy for remaining in the EU was very low key. That was an astute political strategy on May's part, because though it put her on the losing side when the Stay camp lost, she was able to quietly cross over to the winners. "Brexit means Brexit, and we're going to make a success of it," she famously said as the newly minted PM.
Read more . . . Portrait of Theresa May, Britain's Second Female PM
Filed under Foreign Affairs, People, Politics, Women
Tagged as Brexit, EU, Great Britain, Theresa May, UK
Dropped from Fox News, Roger Ailes makes news
ex-CEO Fox News
Roger Ailes
Roger Ailes plummeted from the heights of political and media power in only 15 days, brought down by a star he had created and tried to destroy. CEO of Fox News since its inception in 1996, Ailes built the news organization into a right-wing juggernaut whose influence and profitability is the envy of every other network. Ailes's fall is mythical: he fell precipitously, brought down by one of the many women he allegedly exploited and intimidated during his entire tenure at Fox News.
Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson fit into Ailes's—and consequently, Fox's—desired mold: she is blonde and beautiful, a former Miss America. But she is no bimbo, despite her on-air persona. She is a classical violinist and an honors graduate of Stanford University who studied at Oxford University as well. Carlson showed her mettle when—tiring of what she alleges were Ailes's continuing demands for sexual favors and his retaliation when she refused to accede—she worked with a lawyer to prepare a lawsuit against the Fox CEO, charging sexual harassment and retaliation. Ailes has denied the charges.
Filed under Journalism, People, Politics, Women
Tagged as Fox News, Gillian Thomas, Gretchen Carlson, Roger Ailes, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, Title VII, workplace discrimination
July 14, 2016 · 7:23 PM
Notorious RBG speaks her mind
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Supreme Court justices are human beings and as such they have biases. The difference between them and everybody else is that they don't express their opinions publicly.
Except when they do.
Justice Samuel Alito mouthed "not true" on national television in defiance of President Obama at the 2010 State of the Union. The President had just criticized the 10-day-old Citizens United decision. In the last week, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg denounced presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling him "a faker" who "really has an ego."
"I can't imagine what this place would be — I can't imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president," she said, articulating what many, including Republicans, believe. "For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be — I don't even want to contemplate that."
Expressing these sentiments publicly landed her in hot water. Trump called for her resignation and Republicans deplored her action. No surprise. But so did just about everyone else, including liberals and progressives. What was shocking was where she said it, not what she said. No one doubts that she is a liberal Democrat. No one could expect her to back Trump and his unconstitutional proposals that jeopardize the freedom of the press and the rights of free speech and religion, due process and equal protection.
Perhaps RBG believes the prospect of a Trump presidency is so dangerous that she was willing to scrap protocol and jeopardize her legacy to cry out from her bully pulpit.
To preserve the appearance of impartiality and foster faith in Supreme Court and its ruling, the justices don't take sides in public. The fear now is that RBG might be forced to recuse herself in any case involving Donald Trump. But that is unlikely. In the history of SCOTUS no justice has been compelled to recuse him or herself.
No, Justice Ginsburg dreads Trump's disregard for the law and willingness to trash the Constitution. I believe that she may well have gone out on a limb in a valiant, though reckless, effort to preserve American democracy.
Tagged as Donald Trump, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court
Pope Francis unites religious leaders at 9/11 Memorial
Now that the whirlwind visit of Pope Francis to the United States has come to a close, I urge people of all faiths, including Christians, Jews and Muslims, to watch and contemplate video of the pontiff's visit to the September 11 Memorial.
Pope Francis watches Rabbi and Imam embrace
The multifaith service was deeply moving, perhaps more than any other event on his schedule, because it showed avowed enemies embracing one another and praying for peace together.
Catholic cardinals sing along with Jewish cantor in Hebrew
The service (not "interfaith," but "multifaith," because each religion keeps its own identity) was awe-inspiring and painful. Painful, because the memorial brings to mind the bitter conflicts and hatred that rage in many parts of the world and that were brought directly to us at Ground Zero. At the same time, the visual proof that human diversity can be mobilized to work together for the common good is awesome.
Continue reading at Women's Voices For Change
Filed under Climate change, Environment, Islam, People
Tagged as Ground Zero, Pope Francis, Pope Francis and Climate Change, Pope Francis visit to 9/11 Memorial, Pope Francis visit to U.S., religious unity
Bring in the clowns and be wary
I stand by my assessment of the second Republican debate as "fun," though most people disagree. I had fun watching Trump's antics, both his words and his body language; Christie's sharp wit and Bush's evasions. Perhaps I was able to enjoy the marathon debate because I can't bring myself to take these people seriously, I can't wrap my mind around the possibility that one of these clowns could potentially be President of United States. I still have faith in the electorate.
I admit that's not fair to Fiorina, Paul or Kasich. They were the grownups in the room.
If only Carly hadn't described the Planned Parenthood videos with such relish. Her intent to discredit an organization that provides health care — including, but by no means limited, to contraception and abortion — for women is shameful. The videos are indeed gruesome and shocking, but they were assembled and highly edited by the anti-choice Center for Medical Progress. Until she began to talk about the videos, I was admiring her preparation and steely gumption in facing down Trump.
But she totally lost me when she lunged into her fear-mongering vilification of Planned Parenthood. I'm left with the two alternatives: Either she, a smart and well-read woman, knows the truth about PP but decided to cater to the far-right wing with deliberate lies; or she's not so smart, not capable of critical thinking, not able to distinguish propaganda from truth and facts, which would have rendered the rest of her performance and previous accomplishments impossible. Either scenario disqualifies her as an aspirant to the highest executive position in the world. She has some nerve accusing Hillary Clinton of lying at every opportunity.
Filed under American Society, People, Politics, Women
Tagged as Carly Fiorina, Second Republican debate 2015
A remarkable week in June
It began with the mourners for the Charleston massacre victims. Their appeal to take down the Confederate flag from South Carolina's state capitol swelled to a national demand to remove all symbols that glorify the Confederacy and tacitly condone slavery.
The Supreme Court handed down two momentous, life-altering decisions. The first, King v. Burwell, upheld the Affordable Care Act, saving it from a precipitous collapse that would have snatched healthcare away from the millions who were previously uninsured. It also ensured a significant legacy for President Obama. The following day, on Friday, June 26, the Court affirmed in Obergefell v.Hodges that LGBTQ citizens will no longer be treated as second-class citizens, denied the right to marry anyone of their choosing. The Constitution's guarantee of equal rights, the Court ruled, applies to all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation.
The week was capped by the Charleston tragedy, as President Obama gave the eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney. After he spoke, Obama grew silent, then gave a plaintive rendition of "Amazing Grace" that will not soon be forgotten.
From mourning to celebration: June comes full circle to a fitting close. Gay Pride parades and festivals mark the Stonewall Riots that propelled gay activism and culminated in a victory unforeseen in 1969.
Democracy is not dead in the U.S., as many fear. This week it made a stunning recovery.
Filed under American Society, People, Politics, Race, Shooting
Tagged as Charleston shooting 2015, Gay Pride, King v. Burwell, Obergefell v. Hodges, President Obama, Supreme Court
Brian Williams redux
NBC is bringing back the disgraced Brian Williams, not to NBC, but to MSNBC, the ratings-challenged cable arm of NBC. It is a practical solution: the network would have to pay Williams many millions to break his contract. It was for five years and a reputed $10 million a year, signed just before the scandal broke.
Williams is well-liked, a celebrity, known not only as the serious evening news anchor, but also as the witty guest of Jon Stewart and host on SNL. He will surely boost the sagging ratings of MSNBC.
But writing in the NYT about Williams's return, Jonathan Mahler asks some pointed questions:
Do the tall tales that Mr. Williams told about his time in a war zone — and, apparently, about a number of other stories he covered — make him fundamentally untrustworthy, and thus unfit to report the news? If it doesn't, why not put him back in the job that he did so well and so successfully? If it does, why is it O.K. for him to land at MSNBC? Are its standards for truth somehow lower?
So much of the network newscast is merely fluff, infotainment. Hard news represents a small portion of the news program pie. Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow have no counterparts today. If a personality pulls in a big audience share, integrity is no match for entertainment.
Filed under American Society, Journalism, People
Tagged as Brian Williams, Jon Stewart, MSNBC, NBC
Does NBC value audience share over integrity?
Brian Williams, NBC's former number one news anchor, is back in the news. According to the "Washington Post," NBC's internal investigation of Williams's exaggerated reporting has already confirmed eleven instances in which what Williams publicly reported was not exactly what he had witnessed.
The investigation came on the heels of the accusation made last February by soldiers who were with Williams in Iraq that the news anchor had repeatedly lied about being in a helicopter with them when it was shot down. As a result, NBC suspended Williams for six months and he retreated into silence, invisibility and presumably, shame.
The "embellishments" of his exploits made Williams's reporting more dramatic and therefore more interesting. That may be the reason NBC, who must have noticed that Williams's tales became more exciting with each retelling, did nothing. Williams was drawing the largest audience share of all the networks' competing evening news shows.
"The New York Times" reports that the investigation has identified details that Williams added to his story of a Hezbollah missile attack in Israel in 2006 and discrepancies in his accounts of how he acquired a fragment of the helicopter that crashed during the mission to kill Bin Ladin in 2011. His eyewitness accounts of the Arab protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square and even of Hurricane Katrina are also being called into question.
Until the scandal broke, Williams had everything: good looks, engaging personality and a quick, dry wit which he often displayed to good advantage when sparring with Jon Stuart on the "Daily Show." When I was a journalism student at Columbia, he came to speak to our class. Since I got my news by reading newspapers rather then watching television, Williams was little more than a name to me, and I was impressed with his story-telling skills, affability, and above all, his sense of humor. He was actually quite funny. I don't think he had yet started making the rounds of the late-night shows. He wasn't yet the celebrity he later became.
One comment in particular that he made stayed with me. It was so important to him to appear impartial, Williams said, that he told no one how he voted, not even his family. That certainly sounded like an exaggeration at the time, and now, I realize it may well have been.
Filed under Journalism, People
Tagged as Brian Williams, doctored news, NBC
Emmy Noether, mathematical genius
Emmy Noether's Google Doodle
Emmy Noether was no less than "The most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since higher education of women began." according to Einstein. The reason you've probably never heard of her is the profound sexism that was rampant in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though she was prevented, as a woman, from enrolling in university classes, she obtained permission from her professors to audit. After graduation she taught at the Mathematical Institute of the same university (Erlangen) without pay for seven years.
Noether's work revolutionized physics with groundbreaking contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. Today, on her 133rd birthday, Google honored her with a Google Doodle that included references to her work in topology, ascending/descending chains, Noetherian rings, time, group theory, conservation of angular momentum, and continuous symmetries.
"The list keeps going on and on from there!" writes Sophie Diao, the author of the Doodle, "Noether's advancements not only reflect her brilliance but also her determination in the face of adversity."
Read more about Noether at Vox.
Tagged as mathematics, physics, sexism
March 10, 2015 · 11:14 AM
Larry come Nightly
By Diane Vacca, ComedyBeat | When he named The Nightly Show, Larry Wilmore made clear his strong connection to The Daily Show, where he was Jon Stewart's "Senior Black Correspondent." Nightly follows Daily in several ways. Most obvious is the literal: night follows day and the two shows are broadcast back to back. Wilmore reprises the role he played on Daily, where being black and how that colors living in American society was his beat. In Nightly, Wilmore widens his scope to encompass all the pressing issues of the day, but blackness is always present, whether in the spotlight, hovering in the background or embodied in the show's name.
Read more . . .
Filed under American Society, Amusing, ComedyBeat, Islam, People
Tagged as ComedyBeat, featured, Islamophobia, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Larry Wilmore, Mike Yard, racism, Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show, The Nightly Show
The day Jon Stewart couldn't laugh
Like many people, I've been watching clips of Jon Stewart's finest moments in the wake of his announcement that he will be retiring from the Daily Show. In one of the very best, he isn't funny at all. It was his first show after 9/11. I remember wondering along with everybody else how he would manage — if he could manage — to be funny at a time when the tragedy and the pain were so raw.
When he returned, Stewart captured the national mood. He embodied it. He knew the moment didn't call for funny, though he did say that comedy and laughter are exactly what was needed at a such a time. He didn't try to hide his emotion. Barely able to hold back his tears, he repeatedly had to pause and compose himself. He sniffled and his voice broke. "I wanted to tell you why I grieve, but why I don't despair," he said. And he talked about Martin Luther King. Continue reading →
Filed under American Society, People
Tagged as 9/11, Jon Stewart
Misremembering is real
Since I wrote about Brian Williams's fall last night, the "coliseum culture" has all but overtaken the media. Some journalists, like David Carr on the Times's media beat and columnist David Brooks, try to be fair— sort of. Those who defend Williams (up to a point) comment on the triviality of Williams's tall stories compared to his history of accurate reporting. (Though his entire record is now being avidly scrutinized for other instances of misrepresenting his experience or falsifying his accounts.)
I assumed that Williams's war stories were attributable to his vanity, a kind of self-aggrandizement. David Carr and Jon Stewart believe that Williams came to a point where his judgement was swayed by his celebrity and influenced by the "infotainment" that has largely taken over network news. But I wasn't fair to the beleaguered news anchor. I assumed my theory was true; I didn't consider other possible motivations.
Now I know there is an even more plausible explanation that isn't being considered.
Filed under Health, Journalism, People
Tagged as Brian Williams, false memory, Memory
Obama, the Crusades and American values
Monks bless Louis IX as he sets off on 7th Crusade
President Obama tripped in a snare at last week's annual Prayer Breakfast in Washington. Essentially warning the pot not to call the kettle black, the President reminded the members of Congress and leaders of many faiths that no one is sinless, and that vicious atrocities have been committed in the name of religion by many peoples throughout history, including Christians and Americans. The spark that kindled a roaring flame was this:
And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.
No one likes to be reminded of his own transgressions. Many deny them, expecting others to join them in denial. One of these is former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore (R):
The president's comments this morning at the prayer breakfast are the most offensive I've ever heard a president make in my lifetime.
He has offended every believing Christian in the United States. This goes further to the point that Mr. Obama does not believe in America or the values we all share.
Filed under American Society, Musings, People, Politics
Tagged as 2015 Prayer Breakfast, American exceptionalism, Barack Obama, Christianity, Crusades, Jim Gilmore, Slavery
Marching to Selma
Civil Rights Marchers rest between Selma and Montgomery, Ala., 1965
The birthday of Martin Luther King and Selma, the movie, made me think of an old friend, a New Yorker, who spent a year in the South at the height of the civil rights movement in 1964-65. Karen, a "nice Jewish girl" from Long Island, was teaching at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn. "No white person ever came there," she told me. She "lived in color," learning first hand what it meant to be black.
Karen is exceptional in many ways. An activist practically from birth and by breeding, she was a Freedom Rider, one of the Northerners who rode buses south to take part in the civil rights marches and protests. She marched to Selma, met MLK and spoke with him.
Tagged as civil rights, Fisk University, Martin Luther King, Selma March
Do black lives matter?
Why is so much attention being paid to the Paris murders at Charlie Hebdo, and hardly any to the massacre of an estimated 2,000 people in Nigeria, mostly women, children and older people?
Victims of the massacre in Nigeria by Boko Haram
The terrorist army Boko Haram has been killing people for five years. They abducted 200 school girls last April to use as sex slaves.
New York Times https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/525549272071409664/photo/1
Where is the urgency to stop Boko Haram and their murderous raids?
Filed under Foreign Affairs, People, Random, Women
Tagged as Boko Haram, Nigeria
Sonia Sotomayor stirs it up with brains and salsa
Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
From my review of Breaking In: The Rise of Sonia Sotomayor and the Politics of Justice for Women's Voices For Change:
At the end of her first term as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 2010, Sonia Sotomayor began work on her memoir. In her best-selling My Beloved World (2013), she describes the trajectory that lifted her from a seemingly hopeless beginning as a Puerto Rican child in the Bronx public housing projects to the pinnacle of the American justice system. The brains she was born with, combined with the discipline and self-reliance she needed to stay alive as an 8-year-old who was left to manage her own diabetes, fueled her rise from the projects to the Supreme Court. Along the way, she earned a Princeton degree with highest honors, a law degree from Yale, a job as an assistant district attorney in New York City, and then a judgeship on a federal district court bench.
Court reporter Joan Biskupic picks up the story where Sotomayor left off. Breaking In: The Rise of Sonia Sotomayor and the Politics of Justice is less a biography than a political history. Biskupic was intrigued by the symbiotic intersection of the rise of Latinos in America and the unlikely ascent of the Puerto Rican justice. "Sotomayor had the intelligence and perseverance to do what no other Hispanic had done," writes Biskupic, but she also needed a constellation of factors, both strategic and fortuitous, to breach the bronze portals of the highest court of the land. Biskupic examines how America's changing culture and demographics worked in Sotomayor's favor, and how she used the wheeling and dealing and political strong-arming behind the nomination and confirmation of judges on the federal bench to her advantage by enlisting well-placed supporters and powerful advocacy groups.
Filed under Books, People, Politics, Women
Tagged as Joan Biskupic, Puerto Ricans, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court
November 3, 2014 · 10:37 PM
Election in Puerto Rico
Follow Natasha Del Toro on her electoral tour of Mickeyrican Florida:
Filed under Amusing, Journalism, People, Politics
Tagged as Fusion Net, Natasha Del Toro, Puerto Rican voters


text:
Home // Blog // Agony PC Download
Agony PC Download
Agony PC Download is Ready!
Agony PC Download is a first-person survival horror based on the Unreal Engine 4. It is a debut project of the Polish team Madmind Studio, founded by experienced developers who have worked on titles such as WIedźmin 3, Sniper Ghost Warrior 2, Alien Rage. .
Our character in the game Agony PC Download is a miser who goes to hell. The task of the player is to find a way to escape from this cursed place. His only tips are the vague images of the Red Goddess. Our character is a fictional character, but because of amnesia he remembers nothing of his past. Therefore, one of the goals of the game is to discover his true identity and to answer the important question of why he went to hell.
Released computer platform is an adventure action game belonging to the category of survival horror. During the game we watch from the hero's eyes. He was not equipped with any special combat skills, so survival requires avoiding confrontation with demons. Staying alive helps him to control the minds of the people he encounters and the weaker demons. Production also offers a number of logic puzzles.
Agony PC Download only offers single-player role-playing and no multiplayer options. Agony PC Download is built on the basis of Unreal Engine 4 engine, which provides high level of detail and modern graphic effects.
How to download and install the full version of Agony:
– Download the file from the link below.
– Unzip the .rar file to your desktop using WinRAR.
– Run the .exe file and click Download
– Follow the directions.
– Play.
Processor: Core i3-3240 3.4GHz or Phenom II X4 40
GPU: GeForce GT 740 or Radeon R7 240 v2 2GB
ss_c14356d09f03a288e102e5b74be5abc69fa878aa
maxresdefault (2)
Agony-3
agony3
6 Comments ON " Agony PC Download "
Radionsul May 6, 2017 at 9:27 pm - Reply
Played, I can recommend.
Mcstami May 6, 2017 at 9:29 pm - Reply
Exceptional game.
Keyspri May 6, 2017 at 9:29 pm - Reply
How download ?
Fiermand May 6, 2017 at 9:30 pm - Reply
Follow the instructions. Download game and install with PC Installer.
Claribonh May 6, 2017 at 9:32 pm - Reply
All ok 🙂
Articleyden May 6, 2017 at 9:32 pm - Reply
Full Game is great !


Datepicker/time duration selector widget for Android?
Android KitKat Radio buttons ... Grouping doesn't turn into a set?
When I add a datepicker to my prototype, it shows up blank simulating on my iPhone.
I am wondering if there is a datepicker/time selector widget I can use for my android ICS prototyping.
You can use the Calendar widget and change it to date, time, or time and date.
There is one in the Android widget library. You can make it more interactive using events.


With Incapsula deployed on the edge of your network, and serving as a proxy for all incoming traffic, there should be absolutely no reason to accept traffic from anywhere but our network.
· Incapsula IPs are whitelisted in your web server firewall and in the firewall deployed in front of your web server.
· Server modules that enforce IP rate limiting are not set to Incapsula IPs.
We recommend setting IP restriction rules to block all traffic from non-Incapsula IP addresses. Setting IP restrictions (i.e. using your firewall or iptables) will block all illegal requests that try to circumvent the Incapsula WAF.
- If you create such IP restrictions, make sure to back them up if you disable Incapsula on your site or revert your DNS to its original settings.
Nginx comes with a simple module called ngx_http_access_module to allow or deny access to IP address.
The range 149.126.72.0/21 was added to the Incapsula IP ranges.
Added a new IP for our new Tokyo PoP.
Why not set up a page that is always up to date, where clients can cut-and-paste the exact information needed for the .htaccess file?
For that matter, Incapsula already has a WordPress plug-in to sort out the IP confusion that happens with services such as this. Why not add a feature to this plug-in to write to .htaccess with the current whitelist?
Thanks for the update, it possible to be notified prior to these changes being implemented so we can schedule the change at our end without affecting access to our sites?
Hi, I second last comment. Can we get an early notification? we must notify our customers of the change as they restrict the destination IPs.
As several people have provided specific configurations for htaccess, nginx and iptables, I've incorporated them into the article and will keep them updated going forward. Thank you for all the contributors!!
I am sorry if this is a staggeringly noob question, but if I lock down ht access to allow only traffic from incapsula, I presume this will block my ftp access to the site (unless I ftp from the same IP and whitelist that as well). Correct? Or is there a way to block http calls but not ftp?
Please make sure to update your firewall rules.
We have decide to remove all the single IPs which were used by some of our old POPs.
I have updated the list and the sample configurations accordingly. You can find it in the article at the top of the discussion thread.
I wish to suggest that this list of IP addresses will be stored in a fixed HTTPS (for validation) URL at the Incapsula site, as a structured file format, like CSV, XML, JSON or whatever, so clients will have the option to customize their back-end systems usage of this input, based on this list constantly and automatically, even if the list changes - not needing to relay on notifications from this thread and then manually adjust changes.
Too hard to keep up with IP ranges - it's like another job.
Tips: don't forget to add the ip to all you .htaccess (root, forum, other folders).
PLEASE ALLOW ME ACCESS TO GET INTO MY ACCOUNT I CAN NOT GET INTO MY ACCOUNT .IT HAS BEEN BLOCKED.
There are no suitable Chinese nodes?
Ideally you should still add client IP restrictions to ensure the connections are all originating from the expected proxy/load balancer as well, since X-FORWARDED-FOR headers can be spoofed by a malicious client that is able to connect directly to the web server.
Hopefully you guys do something like the cloudflare did at https://www.cloudflare.com/ips-v4 so we can set up a cron job or something that will fetch the ip lists automatically for whitelist.
Maybe this list is getting obsolete?
I'm receiving visits to my site from 198.143.38.* and 198.143.39.* ranges not listed in the above list.
It would be a very handy resource to have something like proposed by min0taur.
wphost - I agree with you. how are you restricting the access to your server today?
I was going to wait for support to respond to you, but the last comment has prompted me to go ahead and chime in.
I am a customer and I am subscribed to this page to monitor changes. While this is not automated to update my firewall rules, the changes seem to be infrequent, and I get an email about any changes or posts to this page. There is a subscribe link at the top right of the page.
Another way to state it is 198.143.32.0 with a netmask of 255.255.224.0 .
You should make sure that you have the netmask correct in your rules.
Just note that there is no need for you to manually track this page and update all your servers if you use dome9.com. There is a Magic IP for Incapsula (as well as for CloudFlare) that will push the relevant configuration to your iptables or Windows firewall.


text:
Q: Trying to include a null value when not finding a given dictionary key I have a list of equipment software, and I'm trying to make a dictionary with the key being the name of the software and value an array of all versions to this key.
Equipment software list format
[
    [
        {"name": "openjdk-8-jre", "version": "8u171-b11-1~deb9u1"},
        {"name": "python2.7", "version": "2.7.13"},
        {"name": "npm", "version": "8.0.0"},
    ],
    [
        {"name": "openjdk-8-jre", "version": "8u171-b11-1~deb9u1"},
    ],
    [
        {"name": "python2.7", "version": "2.7.13"},
        {"name": "npm", "version": "7.0.0"},
    ],
]

What I'm trying:
softwares = {}

for software in all_equipment_softwares:
    softwares[software] = []

for equipment in equipments_dump:
    for software in equipment["softwares"]:
        software_name = software["name"]
        software_version = software["version"]

        softwares[software_name].append(software_version)

What I'm getting:
[
    {"openjdk-8-jre": ["8u171-b11-1~deb9u1", "8u171-b11-1~deb9u1"]},
    {"python2.7": ["2.7.13", "2.7.13"]},
    {"npm": ["8.0.0", "7.0.0"]},
]

I've been trying to break my head for hours, but I can't get the expected result
The expected result:
[
    {"openjdk-8-jre": ["8u171-b11-1~deb9u1", "8u171-b11-1~deb9u1", None]},
    {"python2.7": ["2.7.13", None, "2.7.13"]},
    {"npm": ["8.0.0", None, "7.0.0"]},
]

How can I add a null value in the values of a given key when the software is not present on that equipment?

A: Here's an approach you could use to get an output with a single dictionary, instead of a list of dictionaries. The key insight is to prepopulate the value with a list of None. Feel free to ask for any clarifying questions.
softwares = {}
softwares_length = len(all_equipment_softwares)

#iterate through each software_list of all_equipment_softwares
for count, software_list in enumerate(all_equipment_softwares):

    #iterate through each software of software_list
    for software in software_list:

        #if it's a software we haven't seen add it to our dictionary with an array full of None based on the length of all_equipment_softwares
        if software['name'] not in softwares:
            softwares[software['name']] = [None] * softwares_length

        #update the dictionary value (the list) from None to the software version
        softwares[software['name']][count] = software['version']
print(software)

Output
{'openjdk-8-jre': ['8u171-b11-1~deb9u1', '8u171-b11-1~deb9u1', None],
'python2.7': ['2.7.13', None, '2.7.13'],
'npm': ['8.0.0', None, '7.0.0']}

A:
    software_version = software["version"]

Your question was a bit vague.
I assume the above blows up with KeyError
when the software is not present on that equipment.
Use:
    software_version = software.get("version")

Also, please RTFM: https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#dict.get

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Back in October 2021, when the world was digesting the emails of former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden and getting intimately acquainted with the opinions he shared when most people weren't listening (or reading), conspiracy theories were flying in every direction. Someone had leaked sensitive materials from an NFL investigation — with the clear intent of achieving some goal — and now everyone had a hypothesis.
Some pointed a finger at NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, who had been the subject of one of Gruden's derogatory screeds sent to then-Washington team president Bruce Allen. Others surmised that it was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell or one of his charges at the league office, looking to make an example of Gruden for a string of racist, homophobic and misogynistic messages to Allen. Still others suggested that it might have been Allen himself, theorizing that he'd been so thoroughly burned by Washington team owner Dan Snyder, he'd sacrifice the reputation of Gruden just to turn the heat up on his former boss.
Publicly, everyone denied having anything to do with it. But privately? Well, it turns out there was a pretty significant accusation by the NFL. One that appeared to put the onus for the leaks onto the Washington franchise. An allegation that, if true, would mean that the person most responsible for Dan Snyder's downfall is the person we suspected all along.
Dan Snyder.
What is Snyder's connection to the Gruden emails?
Thursday's revelations from a 79-page congressional report certainly did nothing to diminish that belief, with the House Oversight Committee publishing findings that got right to the point in the title of the document: "Conduct Detrimental: How the NFL and the Washington Commanders Covered Up Decades of Sexual Misconduct." It contained a multitude of allegations that walk the reader right into Snyder's office and then proceeds to empty all the garbage cans on his desk.
The report is most appropriately summed up by this paragraph contained within it: "The results of the Committee's investigation, as laid out in this report, are clear: sexual harassment, bullying, and other toxic conduct pervaded the workplace at the Washington Commanders and were perpetuated by a culture of fear instilled by the Team's owner."
You really can't get anymore clear than that. But while there is plenty to parse through here, one nugget buried on page 42 should be of particular interest. It goes all the way back to those Gruden emails, which can arguably be described as the crack that eventually led to Snyder's crumbling ownership reign. Because one of the undeniable truths of this entire mess for Snyder was that in the late summer of 2021, he appeared to be on the verge of once again surviving another investigation and the umpteenth round of intense scrutiny and criticism.
Then the Gruden emails leaked in October and everything changed.
Gruden was forced to resign as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. Threats of litigation began to percolate. The NFL and Snyder were forced into yet another internal investigation. Then Congress came through the door, opening up the floor and microphones for anyone and everyone with dirt or allegations against Snyder, the NFL and the Washington franchise.
You could argue that the person who leaked those emails ultimately took a heated spotlight on Snyder and then dialed it up to an intensity only found on the surface of the sun. It's a reality that made Thursday all the more interesting when the NFL's opinion on the matter was ultimately aired out. From the report came an exchange with Bruce Allen in which he alleges the league did point a finger when it came to the email leak. Specifically, Allen noted something allegedly shared with him by the league's special counsel for investigations, Lisa Friel, when Allen complained about his emails ending up in the hands of journalists.
From a portion of Allen's deposition in the report: "I said, 'Well, who in the hell is giving my emails to The Wall Street Journal? Why don't I — I'm the only person that doesn't have my own emails. Why?' And she went on to say, 'We didn't do it at the league office. It came out of their side.'"
Asked who Friel was referring to when she said "their side," Allen replied, "She's pointing a finger at the team."
Two things are worth noting here for a moment. First off, it's still an allegation from a league office that has repeatedly deflected culpability or blame for a number of things tied to Snyder or investigations into his franchise. Secondly, Commanders co-owner Tanya Snyder denied that she or her husband had anything to do with the leaked emails when she met with Goodell and owners at a league meeting following the Gruden revelations.
It's still just Allen testifying to an allegation that Friel made to him and there is no mention of evidence that was furnished to back it up. That said, it's one hell of a wild allegation, if only for the fact that it stimulated total legal chaos for Snyder in the aftermath. Should he eventually sell his team, those leaked emails should be remembered as arguably the most significant turning point in the effort to get Snyder out of the league.
The idea that Snyder's own franchise might have been behind the leak — which is essentially a tacit suggestion that Snyder himself was a part of it — is remarkable.
Leaked emails could ultimately lead to Snyder's downfall
It would basically paint Dan Snyder in the role of Viktor Tupolev, the Russian naval commander who accidentally sunk his own submarine in the movie "The Hunt for Red October." Tupolev chased down his former mentor, Marko Ramius, and fired a torpedo to send his friend to the bottom of the ocean, only to watch that same torpedo circle back and destroy his submarine as one of his officers pronounced, "You arrogant ass. You've killed us."
The moment was a classic plot twist of vengeance. And it would be for Snyder, too.
Is it believable? That's hard to say. The report itself — not to mention decades of journalistic reporting on Snyder — have certainly suggested that the Washington owner isn't afraid to engage in fights or score-settling. And in the case of the Gruden emails, there's no denying that Snyder did try to use them against Allen on at least one occasion long before they popped up in newspapers.
Lest anyone forget, some of those Gruden emails sent to Allen were exhibits in a defamation case brought by Snyder against a media company based in India. During the course of that litigation, Snyder sought to prove that Allen took part in leaking information to the media. To make that case, his lawyers filed exhibits that included some of the emails between Gruden and Allen, as well as between Allen and other media members. While the emails didn't identify Gruden by name, instead calling him an ESPN "personality," their inclusion in the case occurred in June of 2021. Those same emails, which Snyder and his lawyers clearly had in their possession, ultimately ended up in the hands of reporters at the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Whether there are breadcrumbs between the two has not been proven. Nor is there evidence that this is why Friel was pointing at the team as the source of the leaks. However the leaks happened, the fallout is the real story at this point.
That part is less conjecture. It can be measured in not only Thursday's congressional report, but the litigation brought by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine, the forthcoming investigation from Mary Jo White (which will be the third significant probe into Snyder and his franchise), the Gruden lawsuit against the NFL, and potentially other pieces of litigation yet to be revealed.
At the center of them all? Vengeance, power and Dan Snyder.


logout automatically as a protective security measure.
I'd suggest not that quickly. Five minutes is too short. That could be very annoying.
At least 30, and I'd prefer longer than that.
I don't know what security we're seriously worried about. It's not a brokerage account.
I agree with Linda that Bivio only contains information and does not have "funds" that can be accessed.
At our club meetings, we generally have Bivio open for most of the meeting and having to log in every five minutes would defeat the purpose of making our records visible to our partners as we switch between reports, etc. Also, when members are loading copies of their reports, minutes, or whatever ... I know for me there are times when it takes longer than 5-10 or even 30 minutes to load up or refer back to my project.
Only the club's Administrators/Treasurer have the ability to make any changes to any actual accounting record.
two step process of logging out and then closing the website tab.
> logout automatically as a protective security measure.
and addresses. But I do agree that 5 minutes is too little time.
> "funds" that can be accessed.
> minutes to load up or refer back to my project.
> changes to any actual accounting record.
>> logout automatically as a protective security measure.
Good point about the five minutes. Wouldn't have a problem with a longer time out. Actually like Peter's suggestion. As an administrator, I don't particularly like one having access to information such as members personal wealth in the account, as well as private information if one accidentally forgot to logout.
The new feature could be set up as a user-configurable option. Then you could individually set the timeout (or none at all) that worked for you.
Peter - We do have web meeting services as a Chapter Model Club. Even before we became a model club we used a projector at our meetings and the presenter (usually the President or Treasurer) would open and project reports from Bivio, as well as change over to BI site, Value Lines, Morningstar, or where ever. Usually, most people do bring their laptops to the meeting and often before buying a stock we end up doing a group study verifying and digging deeper into the stock before reaching a decision to buy or watch.
I concur that a short timeout would be irritating, because I also keep bivio open for a long time during meetings, during the audit, and while researching stocks. I agree with the idea of auto logout upon web browser closure, and would be ok with a configure feature available for adjustment. This might be a coding nightmare though, and if so, it's not that important.
Thanks Megan. What web meeting service do you use?
> deeper into the stock before reaching a decision to buy or watch.
>> and addresses. But I do agree that 5 minutes is too little time.
>> > "funds" that can be accessed.
>> > our records visible to our partners as we switch between reports, etc.
>> > minutes to load up or refer back to my project.
>> > changes to any actual accounting record.
>> >> logout automatically as a protective security measure.
I would hate for Bivio to have a timeout. If you are concerned about it then log out when you leave your desk or go to another website. I would be fine with a configure feature to adjust it on or off.
We are a Chapter Model Club of Better Investing, so we have a license for Citrix Go to Meeting. Our meetings are open to the public either on-line or in person. We use G_T_M to pass our PC screens among the several presenters at our meetings.
> presenters at our meetings.
> Thanks Megan. What web meeting service do you use?
>> deeper into the stock before reaching a decision to buy or watch.
>>> and addresses. But I do agree that 5 minutes is too little time.
>>> > "funds" that can be accessed.
>>> > our records visible to our partners as we switch between reports, etc.
>>> > minutes to load up or refer back to my project.
>>> > changes to any actual accounting record.
>>> >> logout automatically as a protective security measure.
We also hold 'public' meetings with our Model Club.
However in my other investment club (not a Model Club), we project onto a screen or large TV. We have several programs open for the duration of the meeting (About an hour and a half.) Sometimes one or two members will bring their laptops too, but it isn't necessary for an effective meeting.
Peter - Here is the contact and registration information for the Inland Empire Chapter's Model Club meeting. We are in the Pacific Northwest time zone, so take that into consideration. We meet every fourth Monday. April date is going to be adjusted as we will be doing a demonstration of our Club Meeting for Money Smart Week.
Our meeting resources sound quite a bit like Linda's investment club, sans the Wine and Food .... although that sounds really good to me.
For the public meetings I don't necessarily have Bivio open all the time. I use a PPT, into which I have pasted screen shots. If you would like to attend an online Model Club meeting, we have one tomorrow evening. https://attendee.gotowebinar.